Trust

Trust is key to a functioning society, but its operation is complex. It is basically the belief in someone's trustworthiness, so understanding trust requires both an account of trustworthiness, and also an account of our subjective and often instinctive appraisals of our fellows. Neither of those tasks is simple!

Books relating to Trust

Blockchain Politics

Likening contemporary extremes of far-right populism and identity politics to 17th century Peasants and Puritans, Blockchain Politics examines the enduring importance of trust in political life. Kieron O’Hara develops a new theory of trust to analyse how these extremes undermine social accord and weaken representative democracy, and to suggest remedies.

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Trust

From Aristotle to Francis Fukuyama, Machiavelli to Naomi Klein, the Book of Job to Blairite newspeak and from Enron to nanotechnology, Kieron O’Hara presents a lively exploration of trust.

Essential for almost all social interaction, trust holds society together and makes co-operation possible. Ubiquitous, and yet deeply misunderstood, it can take years to build up, and after one false move can disappear overnight. Polls record levels of trust in politicians, businessmen, scientists and others that are at all time lows: a crisis in trust is currently gripping Western culture.

O’Hara moves easily between the great philosophers and sociologists, and the impact of this crisis in our daily lives, animating theory with in-depth case studies, helping us make sense of the daily scares in our newspapers. Is trust declining? Should we be worried? What can we do about it? O’Hara gives few easy answers in this exhilarating ride through politics, literature, philosophy and history.

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Articles relating to Trust

Data trusts: ethics, architecture and governance for trustworthy data stewardship

Web Science Institute White Paper #1, University of Southampton

2019

Themes: Data trusts, Trust

Category: White paper/report

In their report on the development of the UK AI industry, Wendy Hall and Jérôme Pesenti recommend the establishment of data trusts, “proven and trusted frameworks and agreements” that will “ensure exchanges [of data] are secure and mutually beneficial” by promoting trust in the use of data for AI. This paper defends the following thesis: A data trust works within the law to provide ethical, architectural and governance support for trustworthy data processing. Data trusts are therefore both constraining and liberating. They constrain: they respect current law, so they cannot render currently illegal actions legal. They are intended to increase trust, and so they will typically act as further constraints on data processors, adding the constraints of trustworthiness to those of law. Yet they also liberate: if data processors are perceived as trustworthy, they will get improved access to data. The paper addresses the areas of: trust and trustworthiness; ethics; architecture; legal status.

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A general definition of trust

Technical report

2012

Themes: Trust

Category: Open access, White paper/report

In this paper a definition and conceptual analysis of trust is given in terms of trustworthiness. Its focus will be as wide as possible, and will not be restricted to any particular type of trust. The aim is to show the key parameters that enable us to investigate and understand trust, thereby facilitating the development of systems, institutions and technologies to support, model or mimic trust. The paper will also show the strong connection between trust and trustworthiness, showing how the subjectivity of trust reveals itself in attitudes toward others’ trustworthiness; to trust someone/something is to believe that he/she/it is trustworthy. Both trust and trustworthiness are context-dependent, but the relevant contexts are different depending on whether one is trusting or trustworthy. Finally, the paper will discuss some of the complex issues connected with the alignment of trust with trustworthiness.

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